NORTH KOREA has carried out a nuclear test which was a “solemn warning” against “South Korean warmongers”. Here is the staggering extent of Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal.

Kim Jong-un inspected a demonstration of a “new-type guided weapon” on Thursday which was described by Pyongyang officials as a “solemn warning” against “South Korean warmongers”. Kim said Seoul should “not make a mistake of ignoring the warning” of the missile tests, which appear to have been prompted by joint military drills resumed between the US and South Korea next month. According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, one of the missiles travelled 428 miles (690 km).

North Korea nuclear timeline: A missile was launched on Thursday (Image: GETTY)

Kim said South Korea should stop such “suicidal acts” and “should not make a mistake of ignoring the warning”.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the South Korean “chief executive” – which is perhaps a reference to South Korean President Moon Jae-in – “should not make a mistake of ignoring the warning from Pyongyang”.

On Friday the South Korean-US military command said Thursday’s missile launches were not a threat directed at South Korea or the United States and had “no impact on our defence posture”.

The number of nuclear tests undertaken by North Korea has been climbing in recent years, following the state’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 2003.

From 2014 to 2017, 81 full-flight missile launches were conducted according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

From 2006 onwards, six nuclear tests have been undertaken, in 2006, 2009, 2013, two in 2016 and the latest in 2016.

The test in 2017 took place at the Punggye-Ri Nuclear Test Facility on September 3, 2017.

The independent Norwegian Research Organization (NORSAR) determined the magnitude of the test to have been 5.8. NORSAR, and calculated that the yield of the test device would be about 120 kilotons.

North Korea nuclear timeline: Missiles and nuclear activity has increased over the last few years (Image: EXPRESS)

This is about eight times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, and about six times that of the fifth test conducted at Punggye-Ri on September 9, 2016.

In April 2019, satellite images showed movement at North Korea’s main nuclear site, which a US think tank said could be associated with the reprocessing of radioactive material into bomb fuel.

Any new reprocessing activity would underscore the failure of a second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi in late February to make progress toward North Korea’s denuclearisation.

North Korea nuclear timeline: Officials said the missile launch was a warning to South Korea (Image: GETTY)

Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report that satellite imagery of North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear site from April 12 showed five specialised railcars near its Uranium Enrichment Facility and Radiochemistry Laboratory.

It said their movement could indicate the transfer of radioactive material.

The report said: “In the past, these specialised railcars appear to have been associated with the movement of radioactive material or reprocessing campaigns.

“The current activity, along with their configurations, does not rule out their possible involvement in such activity, either before or after a reprocessing campaign.”